ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – St. Louis City’s Reparations Commission gave a proposal report Wednesday night to the public about ways of helping to repair and reverse the harms of historic damage slavery caused to people in the St. Louis Metro area.
Mayor Tishaura Jones created the commission in 2022 and the group has been meeting since 2023.
In December 2023, the commission sent a letter to Mayor Jones requesting an extension in submitting its report final report which was initially due in March. Kayla Reed, the commission chair says the group needed more time to create a more robust report with strong public comment. Reed says in the letter, they also requested funds to help the commission with resources to ensure the proposals of the report reach the community.
“Very pleased we got an extension so we can cover this,” said North County resident Michael Gregory. Gregory told the commission he’d also like them to add a “cash payment component” to the reparations proposals.
Gregory was among a couple of dozen people at Wednesday’s meeting to give input on the proposal, which Reed says focuses on a range of issues from education, public health, state violence, housing and more.
Carmen Long is glad housing was included in the proposal. She says Black people have it hard just trying to get resources to rent or own a home.
“The Central West End looks like heaven and then when you cross on Delmar it looks like hell to me.,” said Long. “It is all trash, dumping and vacant buildings.”
Another city resident pointed to a First Alert 4 report where a student uncovered racist language in thousands of St. Louis property deeds.
The commission’s findings showed historic inequalities for home loans, school closures, and health – primarily found in black zip codes in North City and North County.
“Why are we divided,” said Carmen. “I’m not getting it. We’re all human people. We should be able to live like a human. We’re not no dogs, we’re not no animals, we’re all human.”
Reed says the commission will continue working on recommendations to repair the harms that have been inflicted on Black St. Louisans. She says they have looked at reparations reports from California and other places across the U.S.
“We’re going to continue to investigate that as we write this report. We’re going to be looking at direct payments, we’re going to be looking at programs, we’re going to be looking at policy changes,” said Reed.
Reed says the public input is the only way the group will be able to draft a thorough report; a final draft is now due in September. The commission plans to have a draft to the public over the summer.
The next reparations meeting is scheduled for February 26 and Mayor Jones is expected to be present. Reed says they will take what the public said Wednesday and fine-tune their proposal over the next few months.
Copyright 2024 KMOV. All rights reserved.